We’ve never figured Thom Yorke for a woman scorned, but apparently we’d better start. Because that crazy internet, always giving us exactly what we never knew we always wanted, has served up yet another delicious morsel. In this brilliant mashup, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke does the crazy old-man sexy seizure dance from new video “Lotus Flower” to the sweet, sweet sounds of Beyoncé. Up next, an actual, real-life collaboration between the two? Please, lords of the internet, oh please say yes. Click through to watch the Thom York/Beyoncé dance and see the original video.
Everyone knows that Thom Yorke is passionate about climate change, that he purchased the entire Warp Records catalog after OK Computer, that he was born with his left eye fixed shut. But did you know that he can’t read musical notation? Did you know that he said he’d “start skanking dancehall style” if Radiohead were to split up? Did you know that today marks his 42nd birthday? If not, this list of 42 things you didn’t know about today’s birthday boy might very well shift your paradigm.
Also, because this past weekend marked the 10th anniversary of Kid A’s release date, we have included 10 things you didn’t know about Kid A. Who says important cultural transmissions need to be in paragraph form? Post comments if you have interesting facts to add!
In the late ’80s, Stanley Donwood hitchhiked around England, busking a fire-breathing act. He stopped off at Oxford to visit his friend, a fellow University of Exeter fine-art student named Thom Yorke. Today he’s known as the sixth member of the band and has crafted virtually every piece of Radiohead artwork from The Bends, where he morphed a photo of a medical dummy with Yorke’s face; to the lava lamp-esque In Rainbows album cover, which was created using wax and hypodermic needles. Tomorrow San Francisco’s Fifty24SF presents Stanley Donwood’s first ever showing in the United States — Stanley Donwood: Over Normal — featuring pieces inspired by his work for Radiohead’s sixth album, Hail to the Thief, and the color of California freeway signs. We sat down with him to chat about it.
Last weekend, while American ears were turned to Lollapalooza (and a crowd surfing, body stocking-clad Lady Gaga), British music fans were taking it easy at their annual Big Chill festival. But we have to imagine that the fans mustered at least a bit of energy when headliner Thom Yorke announced that he was about to perform a new Radiohead song. After the jump, watch a shaggy-headed Yorke premiere “Give Up the Ghost” — the kind of slow, plaintive, lovelorn ballad Radiohead fans have been loving since the beginning.
Etch A Sketch art is fleeting. And when we were kids, our parents weren’t going to waste film documenting our masterpieces — which usually resembled uneven stairs. Now, as Internet-equipped adults we can view much better Etch a Sketch art that will live forever thanks to the magic of Flickr. We’ve gathered ten of our pop culture portraits after the jump, in no particular order. Make sure to add any we missed in the comments section.
1. Watch Thom Yorke perform three new solo songs during a benefit show for the UK’s Green Party last night. [via Pitchfork]
2. After he had been missing for over a week, actor Andrew Koenig (Richard “Boner” Stabone on Growing Pains) was found dead yesterday in a Vancouver park. [via CNN]
3. The ever-growing cast of the Farrelly Brothers’ upcoming comedy Hall Pass now includes Christina Applegate, Alyssa Milano, Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, Amanda Bynes, Stephen Merchant, J.B. Smoove, Nicky Whelan, Derek Waters, Larry Campbell, and Vanessa Angel. But will it be funnier than Valentine’s Day? [via Vulture]
4. Yesterday President Obama awarded the National Medal of Arts to 12 recipients including Bob Dylan, Clint Eastwood, Maya Lin, and Milton Glaser. [via LAT]
5. Is ABC’s Modern Family the new face of network-television family comedy? [via WSJ]
Bonus Giveaway: We use Yahoo! Search to help find the top culture stories of the day. Now we’re giving you the chance to play editor, and you just might win a trip to Coachella.
Use Yahoo! Search to find an interesting link about Thom Yorke, and drop it below in the comments. Our favorite entry will receive OK Computer [SPECIAL COLLECTOR'S EDITION- 2 CDs + DVD], and more importantly, be entered to win a VIP trip for two to Coachella. Topics will be changing throughout the week, so get your search on and keep playing to increase your chances of winning!
Seeing the moniker Thom Yorke??? on Coachella posters made us imagine someone shrieking the Radiohead musician’s name. Luckily, Yorke has quieted those shrieks by unveiling the official moniker of what he unofficially refers to as “the other band” — henceforth known as Atoms for Peace — which includes musicians Mauro Refosco, Joey Waronker, Flea, and Nigel Godrich. The group shares its name with a program initiated by Dwight Eisenhower that distributed nuclear technology to developing nations.
Accompanying this announcement was another (surprise!) announcement — a list of U.S. tour dates that will lead up to their late-April performance at Coachella. Follow the jump for info on the tour dates and cities.
Over the weekend, Thom Yorke rounded up his band of merry men outside of the studio to play a one-off benefit concert at Los Angeles’ The Music Box @ Fonda, ultimately garnering over half-a-million dollars for Oxfam’s efforts in Haiti. With auction-only tickets (which sold from $475 to $2,000), charitable fans (who included Justin Timberlake, Drew Barrymore, Charlize Theron, Daniel Craig, and Maggie Gyllenhaal) were treated to a “new” four-minute present, gift-wrapped with full-band approval. In addition to the familiar highlights from their canon (“Karma Police,” “Everything In Its Right Place”) and their most recent, In Rainbows, that made up the never-ending 24-song set, Radiohead debuted “Lotus Flower,” a track that previously surfaced in Yorke’s secret solo gig back in October.
1. If you’re like us, and missed SNL Presents: A Very Gilly Christmas last night, you can watch it on Hulu while you work. [via Pop Candy]
2. Radiohead’s Thom Yorke somehow obtained a press pass to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, and there’s video of him giving a talk. [via NME]
3. Could Jerry Seinfeld be replacing Conan O’Brien? [via Pop Eater]
4. Twitter was hacked last night by a group identifying themselves as the Iranian Cyber Army; the website was down for nearly an hour. [via CNN]
5. Amanda Seyfried, who plays Sarah on Big Love, is leaving the show to pursue her film career. [via TV Guide]
, and more importantly, be entered to win a VIP trip for two to Coachella. Topics will be changing throughout the week, so get your search on and keep playing to increase your chances of winning!
